Wire coil flipper



J. P. KING WIRE COIL FLIPPER July 19, 1955 Filed May 26, 1952 July 19,1955 J. P. KING WIRE COIL FLIPPER I Filed May 26, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 2July 19, 1955 J. P. KING i WIRE COIL FLIPPER Filed May 26, 1952 5Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent() B. King Company, North Haven,Conn., a corporationv of Connecticut Application May 26, 1952, SerialNo. 290,015

Claims. (Cl. 242-128) This invention relates to a wire or coil handlingdevice, sometimes known as a coil llipper, and particularly relates to adevice for supporting coils in position to be fed to a wire drawingapparatus or some other machine adapted to perform some operation uponthe coil.

The device particularly relates to mechanism upon which the coils ofwire or rod may be supported in operative position so that it may bereeled off as used by the processing apparatus, and which mechanism maybe detachably supported adjacent the processing device so that it may bereadily removed from the support and carried by a transporting device toanother location at which a fresh set of coils may be received.

As illustrated, the device comprises an elongated member or ram adaptedto be thrust through a plurality of coils so that the latter will besupported thereon, the ram being secured to a head member or header soconstructed that it may be supported in upwardly opening sockets ofstandards or like members supported by the floor. The head portion ofthe device is provided with front and rear plates, one of which isadapted to bear against a part of the standards to hold the ram in anextended position substantially horizontal but slightly tilted. Theconstruction of this part of the apparatus is also arranged so that themechanism may be picked up from the standards by a lift truck or similarmechanism having upwardly opening socket members to engage a part of thehead, and the rear plate of the head is adapted to engage against thecarrier plate of the lift truck to support the ram in its properposition.

With this construction, when the coils have been removed frorn the ramand it is desired to secure a new supply the lift truck may be driven upto the device and the carrier raised until the hooks or socket memberslthereof engage projecting parts of the head to raise the mechanism fromits supporting standards. The mechanism or the detachable portionthereof may then be transported tothe place where the fresh supply of.coils is kept and a number of coils loaded upon the ram. The truck willthereupon return to the supporting standards adjacent the processingmachine and deposit the mechanism with the coils thereon upon thestandards at which time the coils will be held in proper pos1t1on to befed to the processing device.

l also provide upon, or connect to, the head of the ram an upper and alower drag member, these members being pivoted so that4 they may hangfreely from their pivotal points to engage the rod or wire as it 1sunreeled from the coils upon the ram. The upper drag is detachable sothat it may be removed when it is desired to load a new supply of coilsupon the ram, while the lower drag is arranged to be raised to aposition in close proximity to the ram and secured in this position sothat it will not interfere with the loading of the coils thereon.

There are also provided adjustable means on which the bottoms of thecoils may rest so that when the wire is unreeled from the coils theirweight will be carried by this supporting member.

23,713,464 Patented July 19, 1955 ICC One object of the invention is theprovision of a new and improved coil handling apparatus.

A further object of the invention is to provide a coil handlingapparatus which may be supported upon a iixed standard or support whilethe Wire or rod is being fed to a machine, or which may be mounted upona transporting mechanism to transport coils of wire to the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a transporting devicefor transporting coils of rod or wire to a processing machine from aplace of storage and holding the coils while the rod or wire is beingdrawn therefrom as needed by the processing machine.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a coil supportingand transporting device of the character described wherein the mechanismfor supporting the coils may be detachably secured to a truck or thelike for purposes of transportation and also may be detachably supportedupon lixed standards while the wire or rod is being processed in orderto release the transporting device or truck for other use during thisperiod.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features andcombinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of my improved coil holding mechanismsupported on iixed standards with a portion of the mechanism shown indotted lines supported upon a lift truck or the like;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2 2 of Fig. l;

.Fig 3 is a top plan view of the supporting mechamsm;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional View on line 5-5 of Fig. l;

Fig. 6 is a rear elevational view of the device when supported on fixedstandards;

Fig. 7 is a perspective View of the head which supports the ram and therear portion of the ram;

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the carrier plate for supporting the deviceupon a lift truck; and

Fig. 9 is a front elevational view of the carrier plate shown in Fig. 8.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention I have shown in thedrawings a wire handling mechanism which comprises a ram member 10 whichmay consist of a U-shaped tubular member, the legs of which, as shown at11 and 12, project rearwardly to be secured to a transversely extendingtubular member 13.

The member 13 is a portion of the ram supporting head to which the ramis rigidly secured. In addition to the member 13 the head comprises apair of spaced frame members 14 and 15 which, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4,are rigidly secured to the tubular member or pipe 13. Secured to thefront edges of the members 14 and 15 is a front plate 16, and secured tothe rear edges of these members is a rear plate 17, all of these partsbeing rigidly held together so as to have a lixed position with relationto the ram 10.

Secured to the front plate 16 and projecting upwardly therefrom are apair of spaced standards 18 having upwardly facing sockets 19 at theirupper ends to receive the ends of a cross member 20 which constitutesthe rear portion of the upper drag 21. This drag comprises a pair ofspaced rods tapering toward each other toward their forward ends andheld together by cross bars 22.

This upper drag member is pivotally mounted in the sockets 19 and mayreadily be removed therefrom. The forward end of this drag is adapted torest upon a retainer plate 23 hinged at 24 to the ram (Fig. 1) andadapted to be supported in adjusted inclined position by a link 25pivoted to the retainer plate 23 and adapted at its lower end to engagea serrated block 26 supported by a plate 27 secured to the ram adjacentits forward end. It will beA apparent that the retainer plate may beplaced in any desired adjusted position and that this plate will retainthe coils 28 upon the ram permitting the wire or rod to be paid outbetween this plate and the drag 21.

Pivoted at 30 to a block 31 secured to the front plate 16 (Fig. 4) is alower drag member 32, this member comprising a U-shaped frame of wire orrods also tapering toward its forward end. In operative position thisdrag member is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. l in which itrests either upon the inner surface of a coil 28 or upon the uppersurface of a support 33 to be hereinafter described. The member may,however, be folded to the stored position shown in dotted lines in Fig.l wherein its forward end is received between the legs 11 and 12 of theram and may be secured in place by the hook 34 which is rotatablymounted in the plate 27. When it is desired to move the device to thestock pile of coils for a fresh supply, the drag .32 will be held infolded position where it will be substantially within the Outline of theram and will not interfere with the insertion of the ram through thecoils.

In order to support the ram adjacent a wire drawing machine or someother processing apparatus to perform some operation upon the coil, apair of standards 35 and 36 are provided. These standards, as shown, areof I-beam construction and are spaced apart a sufficient extent so as toreceive upon their upper ends the outer ends of the transverse member 13of the ram-supporting head, as shown in Figs. l, 3 and 6. The standardsare provided With upwardly facing seats or sockets 37 for this purposeand, as shown, the member 13 rests freely therein. At the forward faceof each of the I beams retaining members 38 may be secured to retain themember 13 in place.

A cross support 39 is secured to the front face of the I beams andwedged outwardly therefrom at the bottom so that it lies in a slightlyinclined position. When the head is supported upon the standards 3S and36 the front plate 16 rests against this cross support as shown in Fig.4 so as to hold the device rigidly in the standards and prevent itsrotation about the transverse member 13. The position of the support 39as will be seen from Fig. l and Fig. 4 holds the plate 16 in a slightlyinclined position so that the ram in its operative position shown inFig. l will be tilted upwardly to a slight extent toward its outer endin order that the coils upon the ram will tend to move to the rear endthereof.

Means are also provided to support the weight of the coils carried bythe ram 10 so as to relieve the latter of a considerable part of thisweight. To this end the supporting member 33 is provided which has atits rear end a hook 41 designed to be placed over any one of a number oftransverse rods 42 supported by a frame designated generally by thenumeral 43, the frame being carried by the standards 35 and 36.

This provides for the adjustable support of the inner or rear end of themember 33. The outer end of this member which, as shown in Fig. 5, is ofchannel or U-shaped form is also adjustably supported. A plate 45 issecured to the support 33 and depends downwardly therefrom, and to thisplate are pivoted upper ends of stirrup members 46 and 47, these memberscarrying transverse rods 48 and 49 at their lower ends. The ends ofthese rods are adapted to be received in serrations or notches 50 and 51provided in a pair of spaced stringers 52 and 53 also shown in Fig. 5.

The stirrups 46 and 47 are of different lengths and are usedalternatively to support the outer end of the member 33 depending uponthe height of adjustment of these members. The notches or serrations S0and 51 are so arranged that one or the other of them will give a properadjusted position to the outer end of the supporting member while theinner end will be given a sucient range of adjustment by means of spacedrods 42. The member 33 is shown in one position in full lines and isshown in a raised adjusted position in dotted lines wherein the stirrup47 is employed to support the outer end of this member.

Thus far the description has been concerned with the mechanism whichsupports the coils when they are being fed to a wire drawing or otherprocessing machine. Provision is also made for supporting the ram andthe ramsupporting head on a suitable carrying device so that it may betransported from one place to another particularly from the positionshown to a stock pile of coils so that a new supply may be loaded uponthe ram.

To this end I provide a carrier plate 55 (Figs. 8 and 9) which plate isprovided with means whereby it may be secured to the elevating carriage56, Fig. 1, of a lift truck 57. This securing means may comprise, forexample, a channeled portion 58 on the upper end of the plate 55 whichfits over the edge of the carriage S6. Secured upon the front face ofthe plate 55 are a pair of spaced hooks 59 having upwardly facingsockets 60 which, as shown in Fig. l, are adapted to receive and supportthe transverse member 13 of the ram-supporting head. The hooks 59 are sopositioned that they will enter the space between the inner edges of thestandards 35 and 36 and the outer edges of the back plate 17 so thatthey may be engaged with the member 13 while it is supported upon thestandards. By raising the elevating carriage 56 of the lift truck theram and ram-supporting head may be raised from the standards 35 and 36and supported by the hooks 59, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the mechanismwill be moved from place to place by the truck. It will be noted thatthe rear plate 17 at this time rests flatly against the forward face ofthe carrier plate 55 so as to hold the ram rigidly in position upon thecarriage of the lift truck.

When new coils have been mounted upon the ram, the latter may then becarried again to the position of the standards 3S and 36 and replaced inthe sockets at the upper end of these standards, as shown in full linesin Fig. l.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the detailsshown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit ofthe invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

l. In a device for handling coils of wire or strip material, aram-supporting head, a ram secured at one end to said head andprojecting therefrom so that its free end may extend through a coil,spaced supporting elements, said head and supporting elements havinginterengaging means whereby the head is removably supported by thesupporting elements with the ram extending forwardly from the head, amember carried by said supporting elements having a substantiallyvertical forwardly facing surface, said head having means to engage saidsurface to hold the ram in position, and said interengaging meanscomprising a member on the head extending transversely of the ram andhaving freely projecting end portions engaged with said supportingelements.

2. In a device for handling coils of wire or strip material, a headmember, a ram secured at one end to said head member and projectingtherefrom so that its free end may extend through a coil, a support forthe head by which the latter is removably carried, means on the supportand head to hold the ram in a substantially horizontal position, and adrag pivotally attached to the head below the ram to extend outwardlyalong the ram, said drag being pivoted closely adjacent the ram andfoldable to a position in proximity to the ram.

3. In a device for handing coils of wire or strip material, a headmember, a ram secured at one end to said head member and projectingtherefrom so that its frec end may extend through a coil, a support forthe head by which the latter is removably carried, means on the supportand head to hold the ram in a substantially horizontal position, a dragconnected to said head and extending outwardly along the upper surfaceof the ram, a retainer member adjustably secured to the upper surface ofthe ram, and said retainer engaging said drag to support the free end ofthe latter.

4. In a device for handling coils of wire or strip material, a headmember, a ram secured at one end to said head member and projectingtherefrom so that its free end may extend through a coil, a support forthe head hy which the latter is removably carried, means on the supportand head to hold the ram in a substantially horizontal position, a dragpivotally attached to the head to extend outwardly along the ram, saiddrag being mounted below the ram, and a coil support below the ram uponwhich the free end of the drag may rest.

5. In a device for handling coils of wire or strip material, a headmember, a ram secured at one end to said head member and projectingtherefrom so that its free end may extend through a coil, a support forthe head by which the latter is removably carried, means on the supportand head to hold the ram in a substantially horizontal position, a dragpivoted at its inner end and extending outwardly along the ram above thesame, a second drag pivoted at its inner end and extending outwardlyalong the ram below the same, and means for supporting the free outerend of each of the drags, the means for supporting the lower dragconstituting a coil-supporting member attached to the support for thehead.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,956,398 Nullmeyer Apr. 24, 1934 2,145,087 Hogue Jan. 24, 19392,263,889 Rose Nov. 25, 1941 2,437,630 Williams et al Mar. 9, 1948FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Dec. 9, 1937

